Look what I made today

All I can say is...YUM!!

Want some?

A fun visit to the doctor

Most of you who read this know my son has some health problems. If you didn't know I will give you the short run down. Derek has a heart condition, asthma and many food and environmental allergies. This is the really condensed version. If you want to know more just ask!

Derek getting his blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen level checked before his appointment!

With all these health issues....you wouldn't even know he had them because it sure doesn't slow him down!

Derek LOVED this hippo bed they had at the cardiologists office! What fun!

The best part of getting an EKG is pulling off the stickies right??

The Echo was much more fun to sit through now that they have the TV in the corner and we can watch movies!! Derek enjoyed watching Thomas the train!!

Girl Time

This last weekend I was able to attend a women's retreat with a bunch of fabulous ladies! It was SO much fun!! I had such a great time. It was at a camp in a city about 50 minutes away set back in the forest. The weather was cool and the company excellent!

We had fun talking, eating, and of course shopping. The speakers and worship times were great. I felt God speak to me in so many ways. It was so great to spend time with other women away from family, kids and responsibility!

They had a gift basket Jamboree where they sold tickets and you could place them in an envelope to win the basket of your choice! My friend Kristy won an awesome basket filled with kids toys, games, puzzles and candy! She was of course very excited! Her kids were too! :)

We stayed in this little cabin that had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. I had three awesome friends for roommates and we had such a great time together throughout the weekend!! You definitely get to know people a little better when you spend 24/7 with them for a few days! Good times!

The only bad experience I had over the weekend was when I got stung by a bee on my foot as we were walking up the steps the first evening to go in to the cabin! It hurt like crazy!! Other than that little stinging incident it was one of the best weekends I've had in awhile!

Green Light

Derek is learning a lot at preschool! His letters and numbers and even how to write (or trace at this point) his name!! But one of the big things he is learning is to listen, behave and be kind to one another.

At school they use a stop light method for behavior. Good behavior keeps you on the green light. Not so good behavior moves you to the yellow light and really not so good behavior to the red light!!

I will admit that my boy has been at all three colors so far this year!! Last week he had 2 out of 3 "good days" so he was able to pick out of the treasure box at the end of the week! He picked a green bouncy ball and was so excited!

This week he had a not so good day on Monday but today he had a great day and was sent home this little certificate for good manners and behavior!

I try to use these times to really praise his behavior and tell him how happy I am and how proud of him I am. I have been talking with Derek every night before school and every morning of school and other random times about behaving and making Mommy happy by listening and being good. On Monday (the not so good day) when I went to get Derek the first thing he said to me was "Are you happy Mommy?", I should have suspected something was up because of the way he said it. So as we were walking to the car I asked him if he got in trouble today and he said he got put on "red". At least he told me the truth on his own and we had a good talk on the way home about behavior and listening!

I know there will be "red" days and "yellow" days but it makes me so happy on "green" days like today!

Cherry Cheesecake!!

I made this yummy dessert last week! I've tried making homemade cheesecakes before but I have never really liked how they turned out! If I was wanting cheesecake I would usually just end up going for Jello No Bake cheesecake and be done with it! But when Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for cheesecake recently I thought I would give it another go!!

You start out with some Nilla wafers, try not to eat too many while making it like I did! Throw in some pecans and you have a very yummy crust. This was a very different crust than what I'm used to, I had always had a graham cracker type crust but this was definitely tasty!

Then you mix it all up in a food processor if you have one or you can use a plastic bag and smash them. I actually ended up putting them in a plastic bag to break apart the cookies better then put them in the food processor to get it real crumbly.

My crust got pretty fine, but it was very Yummy! Once you get the crust to the consistency you want it's time to add the melted butter. I followed the recipe but I think it was a little too much because my finished crust was pretty moist! Add a little bit of vanilla, place crust in the bottom of a springform pan and set aside.

Next we start on the filling! Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl, then add the sugar. Begin mixing together until creamy. Now it was about this point in the process that my small trusty little mixer completely died!!

Luckily I had this small little mixer that is a part of my food processor that we had gotten for our wedding. It did the job and allowed me to continue on! Next add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Once mixed well add the sour cream and continue to mix until very creamy and smooth.

Pour mixture in to pan over the yummy nilla wafer/pecan crust. At this point the oven should be heated and ready to go.

Place the pan in the pre-heated oven, sit back and wait for yummy gloriousness. Have I used the word yummy a little too much in this post?

After a little over an hour you get this...

I added some canned cherry pie topping to mine but you could do any fruit you desire. Cherry cheesecake is my favorite though!

If you would like a more thorough recipe with ingredient amounts, check out the full recipe on Pioneer Woman's website. She did her cheesecake with blackberries which also looked "yummy"!

First Day of School

Derek had his first day of school ever on Monday! He was so excited to start preschool!

The day before I was trying to decide what to have Derek wear for his first day of school so I asked him what he wanted to wear and he says "hmmm, maybe a swimsuit"! Ha! As you can see he didn't get to wear his swimsuit!

For preschool they wanted them to have a canvas bag instead of a backpack, this bag is the only one we could find! It is a little big for Derek and with all the school supplies he had to take on the first day it was getting a little heavy for him to hold! So he decided to kneel for some of the pictures!

Derek hanging up his "backpack" on the first day!

Daddy helped Derek with his bin for his art supplies! Derek was just taking it all in on that day and I'm not sure he knew exactly what to expect, but he was very excited to have little places in the room that were just for him!

I'm all set Mom! See you later!

I did pretty well, I had a few emotional moments dropping him off for that first day! My little boy is growing up! But Derek loved his class and teacher and I know he will have a great year!

Today I dropped him off for his second day and he kept asking me to take his picture. As he was getting out of the car at the school he says "Mommy, we didn't take any pictures today" then when I dropped him off at his classroom he kept saying Mommy take my picture! So cute, unfortunately Mommy didn't have her camera today!

Off to a great start

Last night was open house at Caleb and Levi's school. We got to go meet in the gymnasium at the school with all the other parents and kids and be introduced to all the teachers and staff. Then the boys got to take us to their classrooms to see their desks and meet their teachers.

Caleb sitting on his desk in his homeroom classroom

Levi with his teacher Mrs. Russell

Levi sitting at his desk in his classroom

After all the classroom fun the boys just had to go on the awesome slide at their school. This pictures doesn't really do it justice. It's actually a super long slide that goes all the way down the side of the hill!

The new school year is off to a great start. The boys are both enjoying their teachers and like their new classrooms. Caleb also started cross country this week and has been coming home everyday with red cheeks and lots of sweat!

Derek keeps asking when he is starting school. Only 5 more days!